Stuck fermentation over and over and over and over

[Darwin17]

5 batches of mead have all stalled using a primary bucket. Sanitation is perfect, hydrating the yeast is perfect, nutrients are perfect, PH is perfect, and I am at a loss. I used hard core 1118 yeast so temp is not an issue and neither is tolerance.

The must is airated and agitated and this is what seems to fix it. I transfer into a carboy and it magically just starts to ferment. Sometimes that is stuck though and I repitch yeast into a separate carboy with a gallon of cider and then add the stuck must and it ferments.

Every time it gets to 4-6% abv and just stops and it drives me batty. My buddy says it is the primary bucket and it just does not make any sense to me why it is the problem. But in this case it is the only variable I can think of as everything else is done perfectly. If sanitation was off then it would be nasty and that is not the problem, I add 1tsp of nutrients per gallon so that is correct, It is ariated either with a blender (sanitized) or with stirring (sanitized as well).

What sucks is on the same facet I have had many successful ferments using the primary as well.

Thoughts?

 

[honeycon]

What's your specific gravity?
Are you pitching your yeast at the same temp as your must?
How old is your yeast and is it stored in a fridge?

 

[porterpounder]

Are you adding all your nutrient at the beginning or staggering? If you're adding it at the beginning and flocculating yeat and other matter is covering it all up as it settles at the bottom first then it's not getting to the active yeast. Try adding nutrients in parts every other day. Also are you degassing daily? Need to get the CO2 out of there to keep the yeast prime and going with those ferments.

 

[Darwin17]

What's your specific gravity?
Are you pitching your yeast at the same temp as your must?
How old is your yeast and is it stored in a fridge?

I have a hard time with specific gravity so I use "potential alcohol" and it is at 14% every time

I heat water to 104 and let sit for 15 min then pitch to must and stir

Yeast is new and stored in a fridge (even though that should not matter as it is dried)

 

[Darwin17]

Are you adding all your nutrient at the beginning or staggering? If you're adding it at the beginning and flocculating yeat and other matter is covering it all up as it settles at the bottom first then it's not getting to the active yeast. Try adding nutrients in parts every other day. Also are you degassing daily? Need to get the CO2 out of there to keep the yeast prime and going with those ferments.

I add all nutrients in the beginning so I can try staggering

I don't degas daily as I don't see the point in it but I can do that easily enough

 

[bernardsmith]

How many pounds of honey are you in fact dissolving and what is the actual volume of the liquid that you are fermenting... I am asking because it may be that your hydrometer needs "calibrating". I am assuming that it should be about 3 lbs of honey to make 1 gallon of mead (or 9 lbs to make 3 gallons, or 15 lbs to make 5 gallons). Also, when you pitch the yeast you always pitch from a sealed pack and not one that you have used say half for a previous batch?

 

[porterpounder]

I don't degas daily as I don't see the point in it but I can do that easily enough[/QUOTE]

De-gassing frees the CO2 in solution. If CO2 builds up to the yeast tolerance it poisons the yeast and it goes dormant. Haven't had a stuck mead fermentation since I started degassing.

 

[Darwin17]

How many pounds of honey are you in fact dissolving and what is the actual volume of the liquid that you are fermenting... I am asking because it may be that your hydrometer needs "calibrating". I am assuming that it should be about 3 lbs of honey to make 1 gallon of mead (or 9 lbs to make 3 gallons, or 15 lbs to make 5 gallons). Also, when you pitch the yeast you always pitch from a sealed pack and not one that you have used say half for a previous batch?

15lbs of honey with enough filtered water to make 5 gallons. My rough estimate is 3.8 gallons or so as 15lbs of honey is a little over a gallon. Yeast goes from sealed pack into a sanitized bowl with warm water.

 

[Darwin17]

I don't degas daily as I don't see the point in it but I can do that easily enough

De-gassing frees the CO2 in solution. If CO2 builds up to the yeast tolerance it poisons the yeast and it goes dormant. Haven't had a stuck mead fermentation since I started degassing.[/QUOTE]

I was not criticizing at all and I plan on mixing it around as I did yesterday

 

[bernardsmith]

Beats me...

 

[Darwin17]

Well I have pitched into another bucket and will see what happens. This action will degass as well as get oxygen into the must and will up date what happens.

 

[honeycon]

Good luck. Seems like you are doing it correctly. Your yeast type has a reputation of being able to ferment a dead cat. ( No offence meant to cat lovers). Never used it myself.
I would question the viability of the batch of yeast you are using and try something else.

 

[mwilcox]

what is the gravity measuring when it stops?

I'd also consider step-feeding a batch. Basically you've shown you can make hydromel. So make more hydromel, 1.050, let it get pretty dry, and add some more honey.

 

[The_Bishop]

How are you measuring gravity? Hydrometer?

 

[Darwin17]

I just use potential alcohol and it is 14% every time

 

[Darwin17]

what is the gravity measuring when it stops?

I'd also consider step-feeding a batch. Basically you've shown you can make hydromel. So make more hydromel, 1.050, let it get pretty dry, and add some more honey.

Starts 14% potential alcohol and stops at 8%

 

[jayjaytuner]

whats the temp range for this yeast?....
your pitching it at 100 to 105 degrees ? maybe try a little lower temp altho i dont know much about this yeast

 

[mwilcox]

whats the temp range for this yeast?....
your pitching it at 100 to 105 degrees ? maybe try a little lower temp altho i dont know much about this yeast

I'm fairly certain the must is significantly cooler than this. He's just talking about the small amount of water the yeast is rehydrating in.

although I do recommend people spend a little time minimizing temperature shock when pitching that rehydrated yeast into the must.

 

[Darwin17]

Package says pitch 105 so that is what it gets

Temp in my house is around 75 at all times

 

[Maylar]

Package says pitch 105 so that is what it gets

Temp in my house is around 75 at all times

Package says rehydrate at 105 then slowly lower the temp to within 10 degrees of the must before pitching. It's called atemperating. If you pitch 105° yeast slurry into 75° must you will severely damage the yeast with temperature shock.

 

[fossilcat]

Package says rehydrate at 105 then slowly lower the temp to within 10 degrees of the must before pitching. It's called atemperating. If you pitch 105° yeast slurry into 75° must you will severely damage the yeast with temperature shock.

Bingo!!

An excerpt on how to use GoFerm from the 2015 Scott Labs Handbook:

Slowly (over a period of 5 minutes) combine an equal amount of
the must/juice to be fermented with the yeast suspension. This
will help the yeast adjust to the cooler temperature of the must/
juice and will help avoid cold shock caused by a rapid temperature
drop exceeding 10°C(18°F). This atemperation step may need
repeating for very low temperature must/juice. Each atemperation
step should last about 15-20 minutes. For every 10°C(18°F) temperature
difference between the must/juice and the yeast slurry,
an atemperation step must be performed. For example, for a must/
juice temperature of 20°C(68°F) and yeast slurry temperature of
40°C(104°F), two atemperation steps are required.

GoFerm is added to a volume of water (depends on yeast amount) at 110*. When that slurry has cooled to 104* the yeast is then added. 20 minutes after your yeast is added you have to start thinking about adding this re-hydrated slurry to your must. This is tricky because the GoFerm slurry only lasts for 30 min before the yeast begins to starve, so I do a couple of things. First, my must is always about 80* to 85* so it won't take as long for the slurry to equalize. Second, I slowly add must to the slurry at the 20 min mark at an volume equal to that of the slurry. This helps drop the temp, introduces the yeast to an environment that it will soon inhabit, and buys me another 10 min or so (40-45 min total now) in case I have to repeat another atemperation step.